1564 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 861

on the assessable basis of the Town for purposes of Town
taxation. In arriving at the amount to be so certified
the said Commission shall consider the amounts paid by
the said Mayor and Council in preceding years, the in-
crease in Town population, extent and value of the prop-
erty to be protected, and the general growth of the Town.
Said Fire Commission shall also furnish to the Mayor and
Town Council of the Town of Takoma Park on the last day
of December and of June of each year an itemized state-
ment prepared by the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Depart-
ment, Inc., or its successors, showing the manner in which
the monies paid to said Fire Department under Sections
1106A and 1106B have been expended.

1106B.

(953B). The Mayor and Council of Takoma Park are
hereby authorized and directed to include in the Town
Budget and thereafter to pay over to the Takoma Park
Volunteer Fire Department, annually, in equal quar-
terly payments on the last day of the months of Septem-
ber, December, March and June of each fiscal year, the
amount certified to the Mayor and Council by the said
Commission as hereinabove provided. The monies so
paid over shall be used by the Volunteer Fire Department
for the operation, acquisition and upkeep of appropriate
fire fighting apparatus, for any other expenses incident
to the operation of said Department, and for the payment
of principal and interest of present indebtedness on real
estate now owned by said Fire Department. However,
nothing contained in this Act shall be deemed to authorize
the Mayor and Council to increase the town tax rate. The
legislative intent, hereby declared, is to require the Mayor
and Council to continue to pay over to the Volunteer Fire
Department as in the past from the current revenues of
the Town produced by the general town taxation such
amounts annually as may be reasonably necessary within
the discretion of the Takoma Park Fire Commission herein
created for the purposes above mentioned.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act is
hereby declared to be an emergency law, and necessary for
the immediate preservation of the public health and
safety, and being passed by a yea and nay vote, sup-
ported by three-fifths of all members elected to each of
the two Houses of the General Assembly, the same shall
take effect from the date of its passage.

Approved May 2, 1941.